“Back in my day, I saw the Beastie Boys at the Huntridge for $2” sounds like one of those wacky stories you’d hear Abe Simpson tell. But it happened. And I was there. And I can’t believe it’s already been 11 years!
In 2004 (back when an onion tied to a belt was the style), the Beastie Boys were riding high on my wishlist of bands to see. It had been years since the trio graced Vegas with their presence and honestly, I had given up hope. But when MTV2 offered the guys a $2 Bill TV special to promote their then-upcoming album To the 5 Boroughs, the band not only agreed, but asked specifically to play the historic Huntridge Theater.
In a lot of ways, the most exciting part of this tale is the ticket buying experience. Fans were told not to line up any earlier than 8 a.m. on the on-sale date. So of course, people starting lining up at 10 p.m. the night before. In a misguided attempt to clear the crowd, MTV and The Huntridge went ahead and released a handful of tickets more than 12 hours in advance of the posted sale time. Seeing as a huge portion of tickets were already allocated for radio giveaways and guestlist spots, this lead to people descending on the corner of Charleston and Maryland Parkway in droves.
Due to a fluke, (namely, getting knocked over the railing as I snuck a peek at the front of the line), I ended up one of the very few lucky souls with a ticket, and spent the next few hours locked in the Huntridge smoking patio, as the police were working to disperse the many angry and disappointed music lovers that waited all night for nothing. It was a scary (a little) and exciting (a lot).
When the show finally came around, all the way that same night, I entered The Huntridge to be met by the band’s DJ, Mix Master Mike, who proceeded to wow the entire room with what he could accomplish while armed with two LPs. My ears perked sky high when I heard the familiar whistles of “Sure Shot” emit from the turntable, and the crowd erupted in applause as Mike D, Ad-Rock and MCA ran up on stage and launched right into one of my favorite songs of all time. The track from Ill Communication was the perfect introduction to each of the band members and there wasn’t a person in the audience not singing along for the refrain of “Come and rock the sure shot,” though at this point I was having a hard time singing through the huge grin that my covered my face.
During this point in the Beastie’s career, live shows were already becoming a bit more sporadic, and this was their first show back after a longer than usual break. As such, there were more than a few flubs during their set. Being that this was a TV special, some songs had to be restarted in an attempt for televised perfection, and we got a few jokes about getting what we paid $2 for. Outside of the jokes, stage banter also included the band’s passionate plea to vote against President Bush, something familiar to anyone who followed the band’s political passions.
The TV setup also meant a shorter than average set and smaller than usual stage, forcing the band to cut something – the portion where they would bring out their instruments. While the Beastie Boys are generally much better at hip hop than rock, I did miss the gaping hole that “Sabotage” left by being excluded from their set list. And since the show was designed specifically to promote To the 5 Boroughs, five new songs the audience simply did not know were played to blank stares, bringing the energy down a bit.
However, the Beastie Boys did try and sprinkle in a little bit from each of their records and things did pick right back up though for songs like Ill Communication jam “Root Down” and Licensed to Ill’s “Time to Get Ill,” the latter eliciting a hugely fun game of call and response.
Despite the missteps in performance and setlist (where are the Paul’s Boutique tracks? Whenever a song from Paul’s Boutique is not being played, we should be asking “Where’s Paul’s Boutique“?) I still had a blast seeing one of my all-time favorite bands, mostly because everyone in the audience was equally stoked. After the tribulations involved in purchasing tickets, how could we not feel euphorically happy hearing “So What’cha Want” and “Intergalactic” live in such an intimate venue?
-Emily Matview
Beastie Boys setlist:
Mix Master Mike Intro
Sure Shot
Root Down
Right Right Now Now
Body Movin’
That’s It That’s All
Time to Get Ill
Pass the Mic
Triple Trouble
Skills to Pay the Bills
So What’cha Want
Three MC’s and One DJ
Ch-Check It Out
Intergalactic
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